Apparatus of encapsulating display panel and method of manufacturing organic light emitting display device using the same

ABSTRACT

An encapsulation apparatus capable of securely sealing a gap of a display panel and improving intensity of the display panel, and a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting display device using the encapsulation apparatus are taught. The encapsulation apparatus includes an injection port having tapered projecting edges formed in both sides of one end the injection port, and injecting a reinforcing material into a gap of a display panel in a dual surface contact manner, the first substrate and the second substrate being attached to each other using a sealant; and a supporter coupled to the injection port and supporting the injection port.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, andclaims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. §119 from an applicationfor APPARATUS OF ENCAPSULATING DISPLAY PANEL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURINGORGANIC LIGHT EMITTING DISPLAY USING THE SAME earlier filed in theKorean Intellectual Property Office on 12 Sep. 2007 and there dulyassigned Serial No. 10-2007-0092647.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a process and an apparatus used in theprocess for encapsulating a flat panel display device, and moreparticularly to, an apparatus for encapsulating a display panel capableof hermetically sealing a gap of the display panel and improvingstrength of the display panel, and a method of manufacturing an organiclight emitting display device.

2. Description of The Related Art

An organic light emitting display device is one of flat panel displays,and generally includes two electrodes facing each other and spaced apartfrom each other, and an organic light emitting layer disposed betweenthese two electrodes. When a voltage is applied to both of these twoelectrodes, electrons injected into one electrode and holes injectedinto the other electrode are combined in the organic light emittinglayer. Here, molecules of the light emitting layer are excited by theircombination, and then releases energy as the light, the energy beingemitted while returning to a ground state. The organic light emittingdisplay device has excellent visibility, and may be manufactured in alight-weight and thin configuration, and may be driven by a lowervoltage, therefore, an increasing public attention has been attracted asthe next-generation display device.

The organic light emitting display, however, has a problem that it maybe easily deteriorated when the moisture is penetrated into organicmatters constituting the organic light emitting layer.

In order to solve these and other related problems regarding the organiclight emitting display device, a moisture-absorbing agent may beinstalled inside of the display device. The method using amoisture-absorbing agent however has a limitation to remove the moisturepenetrated into the organic light emitting diode, and it is difficult tomass produce the display device due to the low durability andreliability of the display device. In addition, a method where amoisture-absorbing agent is mounted in the form of powder iscomplicated, and the costs of materials and processes are thereforeincreased, thickness of the display device is increased, and it isdifficult to apply to the top emission type device. Also, a method ofcoating an encapsulation substrate with a moisture-absorbing agent hasproblems that outgassing phenomenon is caused during the sinteringprocess, and therefore an adhesive force between a seal and a substratemay be undesirably decreased and thus the organic light emitting diodemay be easily exposed to moisture.

In order to solve the above stated problems regarding the organic lightemitting display device, a method of forming a side wall of a frit toseal an organic light emitting diode may be used.

The organic light emitting display device that is coated and sealed witha frit, however, still has limitations in the aspect of completelypreventing the penetration of moisture. In particular, because the fritmay be easily broken when external impacts are applied to the frit,stress converges to an adhesion surface of the frit and the substrate,and the frit and the encapsulation substrate, therefore, cracks may begenerated from the adhesion surface, and be spread into the entiresubstrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved apparatus for encapsulating a display panel capable in order toovercome the disadvantages as stated above, such as the penetration ofmoisture.

It is another object of the present invention to provide anencapsulation apparatus capable of effectively installing a reinforcingmaterial embracing a seal agent of a display panel.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a methodof manufacturing an organic light emitting display device using theencapsulation apparatus capable of improving luminous efficiency andimpact resistance of the organic light emitting display.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an encapsulation apparatusincludes an injection port having tapered projecting edges formed in oneend thereof, and injecting a reinforcing material into a gap between afirst substrate and a second substrate of a display panel, the firstsubstrate and the second substrate being attached to each other using asealant; and a supporter coupled to the injection port and thussupporting the injection port.

Preferably, the injection port has a recess between the projectingedges.

The encapsulation apparatus may further include a body being coupled tothe injection port and coupling the injection port to the supporter inan attachable/detachable manner.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a method ofmanufacturing an organic light emitting display device having a firstsubstrate having an organic light emitting diode installed therein and asecond substrate for encapsulating a pixel region of the firstsubstrate, contemplates adhering the second substrate to the firstsubstrate using a sealant; immersing an injection port of anencapsulation apparatus in a liquid reinforcing material, and taking theinjection port out of the liquid reinforcing material, with theinjection port having tapered projecting edges formed in one end of theinjection port; contacting the reinforcing material with a gap of adisplay panel, with the reinforcing material being disposed on theprojecting edges and the display panel being composed of the adheredsubstrates; and curing the reinforcing material with which the gap isfilled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the invention, and many of the attendantadvantages thereof, will be readily apparent as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which likereference symbols indicate the same or similar components, wherein:

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an encapsulation apparatusconstructed as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a partially schematic side view of the encapsulationapparatus as shown in FIG. 1A for illustrating the relative positionsbetween tapered projection edges and side surface of the display device;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an encapsulation apparatusconstructed as another exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing some of components of theencapsulation apparatus as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plane mimetic view showing an organic light emitting displaydevice manufactured using the encapsulation apparatus constructed asanother exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing main parts of the organic lightemitting display device as shown in FIG. 4; and

FIGS. 6A to 6D are process flow charts showing a method of manufacturingan organic light emitting display device constructed as an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description, only certain exemplaryembodiments of the present invention have been shown and described,simply by way of illustration. As those skilled in the art wouldrealize, the described embodiments may be modified in various differentways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the presentinvention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regardedas illustrative in nature and not restrictive. In addition, when anelement is referred to as being “on” another element, it may be directlyon the another element or be indirectly on the another element with oneor more intervening elements interposed therebetween. Also, when anelement is referred to as being “connected to” another element, it maybe directly connected to the another element or be indirectly connectedto the another element with one or more intervening elements interposedtherebetween. Hereinafter, like reference numerals refer to likeelements.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in details with reference to the accompanying drawings. Forconvenience, in these exemplary embodiments of the present invention,the term “substrate” unit a substrate including an organic lightemitting diode, the term “evaporation substrate” unit a substrate whichis a base material having an organic light emitting diode formedthereon. And, a display panel commonly refers to a panel in which thesubstrate (the substrate including an organic light emitting diode) andthe encapsulation substrate for encapsulating at least some region ofthe substrate are adhered to each other by a sealing agent (i.e., asealant) such as a frit.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an encapsulation apparatusconstructed as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1A, the encapsulation apparatus includes an injectionport 10 and a supporter 20, wherein a reinforcing material 40 isinjected into a gap on a side surface of a display panel 50 in a dualsurface contact manner. Here, the dual surface contact manner unit has amanner of filling a line-shaped gap with two streams of liquidreinforcing materials transmitted by a capillary phenomenon through twotapered projecting edges, the line-shaped gap being present on one sidesurface of the display panel.

In particular, the encapsulation apparatus constructed as an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention may effectively fills a gap,particularly a gap in a corner portion, of display panel 50 withreinforcing material 40 easily and effectively and may also improvehermeticity by minimizing generation of bubbles between a seal and areinforcing material, or in the reinforcing material when the gap isfilled with the reinforcing material. For the purpose of giving sucheffects, a main characteristic of the encapsulation apparatus of thepresent invention is a configuration of injection port 10.

More particularly, injection port 10 includes a header 13 having taperedprojecting edges 11 a, 11 b formed in one end thereof; and a neck 14extended integrally from projecting edges 11 a, 11 b and couplinginjection port 10 and supporter 20. Header 13 of injection port 10includes two projecting edges 11 a, 11 b and a recess 12 disposedbetween projecting edges 11 a, 11 b, and neck 14 includes a couplinghole (not shown) passed through a coupling unit such as a bolt 22 whenneck 14 is coupled to supporter 20.

A length (W1) of header 13 increases proportionately with an increasinglength (W2) of a corresponding side surface 51 of a display panel 50,and a length (W1) of header 13 decreases proportionately with andecreasing length (W2) of a corresponding side surface 51 of a displaypanel 50. Projecting edges 11 a, 11 b may include additional projectingedges with an increasing length of side surface 51 of display panel 50.The length of projecting edges 11 a, 11 b however may be optionallyadjusted according to the viscosity or amount of the injectedreinforcing material, but the position of projecting edges 11 a, 11 b ispreferably disposed in a roughly fixed position in proportion to thelength of side surface 51, as described in the case that the projectingedges are coupled to the header so that the projecting edges aredisposed in a position from approximately ⅓ to approximately ⅔ in alongitudinal direction of side surface 51 of display panel 50 if thenumber of projecting edges are two.

FIG. 1B is a partially schematic side view of the encapsulationapparatus as shown in FIG. 1A for illustrating the relative positionsbetween tapered projection edges and side surface of the display device.In FIG. 1B, L1 indicates the position of tapered projecting edges 11 aand 11 b and L1 is measured from the edges of side surface 51 of displaypanel to central line of one of tapered projecting edges 11 a and 11 b,and L2 is total width W2 of side surface 51 of display panel. Here, L1is approximately (⅓)L2 and therefore projecting edges 11 a and 11 b areevenly distributed on side surface 51 of display panel and thus evenlybeing distributed at the edges of display panel.

This is for suitably injecting a gap in a corner portion of displaypanel 50 with a reinforcing material, and also minimize generation ofbubbles when the gap is injected with the reinforcing material.

Supporter 20 supports injection port 10 and may include a unit fortransferring injection port 10, if necessary. Supporter 20 may include ahole (not shown) or a groove for coupling with a neck 14 of injectionport 10, and may be coupled to injection port 10 using the couplingunit.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an encapsulation apparatus accordingto another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 isan exploded perspective view showing some of components of theencapsulation apparatus as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the encapsulation apparatus includes aninjection port 10 a, a supporter 20 a and a body 30 for couplinginjection port 10 a in an attachable/detachable manner.

Injection port 10 a illustrates a shape as seen from a left side ofinjection port 10 as shown in FIG. 1, and has a knife shape having apointed end. That is to say, injection port 10 a has a tapered shape inwhich a cross-sectional area is decreased in a direction from neck 14 toprojecting edges 11 a (11 b when viewed from another side).

Body 30 includes one end portion 31 coupled with neck 14 of injectionport 10 a by means of the coupling unit such as a bolt 22, and other endportion 33 of body 30 fit into a groove 23 of supporter 20 a. One endportion 31 includes a stepped portion 32 where body 30 having a plateshape has decreasing thickness; and a coupling hole 34 for coupling body30 with injection port 10 a. Stepped portion 32 facilitates the couplingwith injection port 10 a by partially defining a position of injectionport 10 a when it is coupled with injection port 10 a. Coupling hole 34may include a screw thread in an inside surface, and be coupled to abolt 22 passed through coupling hole 15 of injection port 10 a.

Supporter 20 a includes grooves 23 for coupling with other end portion33 of body 30 in an attachable/detachable manner; and a fixing member 24installed on the inside surface of groove 23. Groove 23 is formed sothat other end portion 33 of body 30 is inserted into groove 23 in apredetermined length, and a plurality of grooves may be installed as onegroup so as to reinforce a plurality of display panels 50 at the sametime. Fixing member 24 fixes injection port 10 a in groove 23 so thatinjection port 10 a inserted into groove 23 cannot be inclined or easilyremoved. In this embodiment, fixing member 24 is an elastic memberinstalled in a predetermined region of the inside surface of groove 23.After the protrusion or insertion, contemporary fixation structures suchas rotary structures may be sued as fixing member 24.

In order to enhance an effect to inject the reinforcing material throughinjection port 10 a, supporter 20 a may also be operated so thatinjection port 10 a can sway left and right as much as a predetermineddistance along a direction where a gap of display panel 50 is extended.Construction for obtaining the effects may be easily designed andproduced by those having ordinary skills in the art, and thereforedescription of the construction is omitted for clarity. If injectionport 10 a sways left and right, the reinforcing material injected intothe gap of display panel 50 may be uniformly and evenly injected intothe gap of display panel 50.

When the above-mentioned encapsulation apparatus is used herein, a gap,particularly a gap including a corner portion, between the substrate andthe encapsulation substrate is effectively 11 filled by the reinforcingmaterial if the encapsulation substrate is in a cap shape as well as aplate shape, and its hermeticity may be improved by minimizinggeneration of bubble when the gap is injected with a reinforcingsolution, thereby preventing penetration of the external air.

Next, the method of manufacturing an organic light emitting displaydevice having high durability using the encapsulation apparatus of thepresent invention will be described in detail. FIG. 4 is a plane mimeticview showing the organic light emitting display device manufacturedusing the encapsulation apparatus of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the organic light emitting display device includesa substrate 100, an encapsulation substrate 200, a sealing agent 150 anda reinforcing material 160. In this embodiment, the organic lightemitting display device is realized in an active matrix mode.

Substrate 100 includes a pixel region 100 a having at least one organiclight emitting diode formed therein; and a non-pixel region 100 bincluding a region except for pixel region 100 a. Pixel region 100 ameans a region that displays a predetermined image using the lightemitted from the organic light emitting diode.

Pixel region 100 a includes a plurality of scan lines (S1 to Sn)arranged in a first direction, for example a row direction; and aplurality of data lines (D1 to Dm) arranged in a second direction, forexample a column direction, that is crossed at a right angle with thefirst direction, wherein a plurality of pixels are disposed in a regiondefined by the scan lines (S1 to Sn) and the data lines (D1 to Dm), andan organic light emitting diode in each of the pixels is driven by adata signal and a scan signal, the data signal being applied through thedata lines (D1 to Dm) and the scan signal being applied through the scanlines (S1 to Sn).

Non-pixel region 100 b includes metal wires for extending scan lines (S1to Sn) and data lines (D1 to Dm) in pixel region 100 a, respectively;and a driver integrated circuit coupled to the metal wire. Here, thedriver integrated circuit includes a data driver 170 coupled to the datalines (D1 to Dm); and scan drivers 180 a, 180 b coupled to the scanlines (S1 to Sn).

The main components of the above-mentioned organic light emittingdisplay device according to the present invention will be described inmore details with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 5 is across-sectional view showing main parts of the organic light emittingdisplay device as shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 corresponds to thecross-sectional view taken from a line I-I′ of FIG. 4, and descriptionsof related known functions or construction that are considered to departfrom the gist of the present invention are omitted for clarity. Inaddition, the thickness and size as shown in FIG. 5 may be overstatedfor convenience, and the actual thickness or size of a film may bedifferent.

A buffer layer 111 is formed on an evaporation substrate 101. Bufferlayer 111 prevents substrate 100 from being damaged by factors such asheat from the exterior, etc., and may be formed of electricallyinsulated materials such as silicon dioxide (SiO₂) and silicon nitride(SiNx).

A semiconductor layer 112 having an active layer 112 a and an ohmiccontact layer 112 b is formed on at least some region of buffer layer111. A gate dielectric layer 113 is formed on buffer layer 111 andsemiconductor layer 112. A gate electrode 114 is formed on at least someregion of gate dielectric layer 113 to correspond to active layer 112 a.An interlayer dielectric layer 115 is formed on gate electrode 114 andgate dielectric layer 113. Source and drain electrodes 116 a, 116 b areformed on interlayer dielectric layer 115. Source and drain electrode116 a, 116 b are formed so that they can be coupled respectively to oneexposed region of ohmic contact layer 112 b. An overcoat 117 is formedon interlayer dielectric layer 115 and source and drain electrodes 116a, 116 b. A first electrode 119 is formed on one region of overcoat 117.first electrode 119 is coupled to an exposed region of at least onesource and drain electrodes 116 a, 116 b through via hole 118.

A pixel definition layer 120 is formed on overcoat 117 and firstelectrode 119, pixel definition layer 120 having an opening (not shown)for exposing at least some region of first electrode 119. An organiclayer 121 is formed on the opening of pixel definition layer 120. Asecond electrode 122 is formed on pixel definition layer 120 and organiclayer 121. A passivation layer is further formed on second electrode122.

Encapsulation substrate 200 is a member for encapsulating at least onepixel region of substrate 100 having an organic light emitting diodeformed therein. In this case, encapsulation substrate 200 is formed oftransparent materials for top emission or dual emission, and formed ofopaque materials for bottom emission. In the present invention, glassmay be used as the materials of encapsulation substrate 200, but thereis no limitation to materials if they may encapsulate a pixel region inaddition to the glass.

Encapsulation substrate 200 has a plate shape, and encapsulates pixelregion 100 a on substrate 100. In this embodiment, the entire regionexcept for a data driver 170 and a pad portion is encapsulated.

Sealing agent 150 is formed in substrate 100 and an edge ofencapsulation substrate 200 to encapsulate entire pixel region 100 a andsome of non-pixel region 100 b so that the external air may not bepenetrated. Sealing agent 150 is preferably formed in a linear shape tobe spaced apart at a constant distance from edges of a surface formed byadhering encapsulation substrate 200 to substrate 100. This is to ensurea space for injecting reinforcing material 160, and the spaced distanceis preferably in a range from 0.3 mm to 0.7 mm. If the spaced distanceis less than 0.3 mm, a reinforcing effect may be deteriorated due to thenarrow width of reinforcing material 160; if the spaced distance is morethan 0.7 mm, the size of the product is increased due to the wide deadspace, which may lead to the deteriorated quality of the product.

Sealing agent 150 is so called “frit” or “glass frit (glass frit)”, andmay be made of frit materials including fine glass particles. The flitbasically means a raw glass material in the form of powder including anadditive material, and the frit practically means a glass in the fieldof glass since the frit is melted and formed into a glass. Therefore,all kinds of the frit including the glass may be used in thisspecification. The above-mentioned fine glass particles include at leastone selected from the group consisting of magnesium oxide (MgO), calciumoxide (CaO), barium oxide (BaO), lithium oxide (Li₂O), sodium oxide(Na₂O), potassium oxide (K₂O), boron oxide (B₂O₃), vanadium oxide(V₂O₅), zinc oxide (ZnO), tellurium oxide (TeO₂), aluminum oxide(Al₂O₃), silicon dioxide (SiO₂), lead oxide (PbO), tin oxide (SnO),phosphorous oxide (P₂O₅), ruthenium oxide (Ru₂O), rubidium oxide (Rb₂O),rhodium oxide (Rh₂O), ferrite oxide (Fe₂O₃), copper oxide (CuO),titanium oxide (TiO₂), tungsten oxide (WO₃), bismuth oxide (Bi₂O₃),antimony oxide (Sb₂O₃), lead-borate glass, tin-phosphate glass, vanadateglass, and borosilicate. The fine glass particles has a particle size ofapproximately 2 μm to 30 μm, more preferably, approximately 5 μm toabout 10 μm, but the present invention is not particularly limitedthereto. If a distance between the encapsulation substrate and thesubstrate both of which are in contact with the frit, or a distancebetween any layers on the encapsulation substrate and the evaporationsubstrate is increased, then the size of the fine glass particles may befurther increased as much as the increased distance.

The frit may further include a filler or additive material forcontrolling an absorption characteristic for irradiated energy orcontrolling thermal expansion characteristic. Also, the frit may includeinversion and/or addition fillers for controlling a thermal expansioncoefficient. The filler or additive material includes transition metalssuch as chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mn), cobalt (Co), copper(Cu), and/or vanadium. Also, the additive material may include ZnSiO₄,PbTiO₃, ZrO₂, and/or eucryptite (Li₂O—Al₂O₃-2SiO₂).

If substrate 100 and encapsulation substrate 200 are adhered to eachother using the frit, the frit, in the form of frit paste, is applied atan edge of encapsulation substrate 200, melted between substrate 100 andencapsulation substrate 200 using a laser or ultraviolet rays, and thenthe substrate 100 and encapsulation substrate 200 are sealed by the fritwhile the frit is cured. Meanwhile, if the encapsulation process isstarted with dried frit, a liquid material may be further used. Anorganic or inorganic solvent may be sued as the liquid material.

A line formed using the frit materials is preferably in a width rangefrom 0.5 to 1.5 mm. If the width of the line is less than 0.5 mm, alarge amount of poor lines may be formed in the sealing process, and anadhesive force may be reduced. If the width of the line exceeds 1.5 mm,quality of the final product may be deteriorated due to the increaseddead space of the final product.

Meanwhile, the present invention is not particularly limited to thematerials or layers of a surface of substrate 100 that is in directcontact with the frit, but the frit is preferably installed so that itmay be overlapped with a metal wire as possible as it can, except for azone of the metal wire coupled to the driver integrated circuit. If thefrit is overlapped with the metal wire, the metal wire may be damagedwhen the frit is cured by irradiation of a laser or ultraviolet rays.

Reinforcing material 160 is formed so that it may be in contact withsealing agent 150 and embraces sealing agent 150, or be spaced apartfrom sealing agent 150 at a predetermined distance. Reinforcing material160 functions to reinforce strength of sealing agent 150 such as flitwhile enhancing a sealing force of sealing agent 150. Reinforcingmaterial 160 is installed in a gap formed between substrate 100 andencapsulation substrate 200, and may be additionally disposed on sidesurface of substrate 100 or encapsulation substrate 200.

Materials of reinforcing material 160 is initially applied betweensubstrate 100 and encapsulation substrate 200 in a form of liquid phase,and therefore resins that is naturally cured, thermally cured, or curedby ultraviolet rays may be used as materials of reinforcing material160. For example, acrylcyanoate may be used as the naturally curedmaterials, acrylate may be used as thermally cured materials, and epoxy,acrylate and urethane acrylate may be used as the ultraviolet rays-curedmaterials. Acrylate may be thermally cured at a temperature of less than80° C.

If the above-mentioned reinforcing material 160 is used, particularly ifsubstrate 100, encapsulation substrate 200 and sealing agent 150 are allmade of glass, reinforcing material 160 may prevent a display devicefrom being easily broken by external impacts, and enhance the sealing ina region where sealing agent 150 is not fused and attached, or a regionhaving a weak adhesive force.

Components of the above-mentioned organic light emitting display deviceand coupling relations between them may be widely varied according tothe structure, for example the active matrix or passive matrix structureof the organic light emitting display, and description of the generalstructure of the organic light emitting display device omitted forclarity since the general structure is known.

Next, the method of manufacturing an organic light emitting displaydevice according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventionwill be described in detail. FIGS. 6A to 6D are flow process chartsshowing a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting displaydevice according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Hereinafter, one case that a frit is used as a sealing agent 150 is, forexample, described herein.

First, frit is applied in a line shape as sealing agent 150 in aposition spaced apart at a predetermined distance from an edge ofencapsulation substrate 200, as shown in FIG. 6A. The frit is applied inthe form of frit paste to encapsulation substrate 200, and then cured.As described above, it is desirable that the frit has a height of 10 μmto 20 μm. If the thickness of the frit exceeds 20 μm, a relatively largeamount of energy is required for melting a large amount of frit whensubstrates are sealed with a laser, and therefore a power of the lasershould be increased or a scan speed should be reduced, which leads tothe damage to the display device by the generated heat, whereas a largeamount of the frit may be poorly applied if the thickness of the frit isless than 10 μm. These steps are shown in FIG. 6A.

Next, substrate 100 including a pixel region having an organic lightemitting diode and a non-pixel region having a driver integrated circuitand a metal wire is prepared, and an encapsulation substrate 200 isclosely physically attached onto the prepared substrate 100, as shown inFIG. 6B. And, the frit between the closely attached substrate 100 andencapsulation substrate 200 is irradiated with a laser or infrared raysand melted. At this time, laser or infrared rays with which the frit isirradiated preferably has a wavelength within a range of fromapproximately 800 nm to approximately 1200 nm, and more preferablyapproximately 810 nm, and a power of the laser or infrared rays may beused at the power range of from 25 watts to 45 watts. During the frit isirradiated with the laser or infrared rays, a region except for the fritis preferably covered by a mask in order to be prevented from theirradiation of the laser or infrared rays. Materials of the mask, whichmay be used herein, include copper, aluminum, or bilayers thereof. Then,the molten frit is cured while removing off moisture or an organicbinder, thereby adhering encapsulation substrate 200 to substrate 100.These steps are shown in FIG. 6B.

Next, the previously mentioned injection port 10 of the encapsulationapparatus according to the present invention is immersed in a containercontaining a liquid reinforcing material and taken out of the liquidreinforcing material, and liquid reinforcing material 160 collected inthe projecting edges of injection port 10 is contacted with an externalportion of the frit, namely a gap of the display panel having substrate100 and encapsulation substrate 200 adhered to each other, as shown inFIG. 6C. At this time, liquid reinforcing material 160 is naturallypenetrated into the gap by a capillary phenomenon. Viscosity of liquidreinforcing material 160 is preferably in a range from 100cp(CentiPoises) to 4000 cp(CentiPoises). If the viscosity of liquidreinforcing material 160 is out of the above defined range, liquidreinforcing material 160 may not suitable for usage since it is toowatery or too thick. These steps are shown in FIG. 6C.

For the above-mentioned procedural steps, the injection port havingtapered projecting edges formed in both sides of one end thereof isdesigned to supply the reinforcing material into two spots on one edgeof the display panel so as to minimize generation of bubbles andeffectively reinforce a corner portion, and therefore the shape, width,thickness of the injection port, the number of the projecting edge, andthe range of an inclined angle in a tapered region may be designedaccording to the size of the display panel.

Also, if the reinforcing material is injected into gaps at two or threeedges of the display panel except for the edge where the pad portion isdisposed, two or three injection ports may be installed on an apparatusfor injecting the reinforcing material.

The projecting edges of injection port 10 may be adjacent to, orcontacted with the side surface or gap of the display panel. And, anamount of injected reinforcing material 160 may be determined accordingto the distance between injection port 10 and the display panel, or theamount of reinforcing material 160 penetrated into the gap.

Meanwhile, In this process, the injection port may sway left and rightin a line direction where a gap is formed to inject the reinforcingmaterial more effectively. In this case, the reinforcing material may beinjected uniformly even when a line of the gap is slightly bent, as wellas the gap is straightly formed.

Next, reinforcing material 160 is cured. The curing of reinforcingmaterial 160 may be carried out using the naturally curing process.Meanwhile, the curing of reinforcing material 160 may be cured byirradiation of ultraviolet rays, as shown in FIG. 6D. Of course,reinforcing material 160 exposed to some areas of substrate 100 and aside surface of encapsulation substrate 200 may be removed. These stepsare shown in FIG. 6D.

According to the manufacturing method, the encapsulation process or thereinforcement process may be easily carried out during the injectionprocess of the reinforcing material, using the above-mentionedencapsulation apparatus of the present invention, since the reinforcingmaterial is penetrated into a gap of the display panel by means of acapillary phenomenon. In particular, it is possible to minimizegeneration of bubbles in the penetration of reinforcing material 160while surely sealing even a corner portion of the display panel byemploying the injection port of the encapsulation apparatus havingtapered projecting edges.

Also, the above-mentioned method of manufacturing an organic lightemitting display device has advantages that the reinforced encapsulationprocess may be easily carried out regardless of the structure, such asan active matrix mode or a passive matrix mode, of the organic lightemitting display, or the shape, such as a cap shape, of theencapsulation substrate.

The method according to the present invention may be useful to improvehermeticity by surely filling the entire gap between the substrates,including a corner portion of the display panel, with the reinforcingmaterial. In addition, the method according to the present invention maybe useful to minimize generation of bubbles when the reinforcingmaterial is injected into a gap.

Also, since a gap between a substrate and an encapsulation substrate ofthe organic light emitting display device is hermetically sealed usingthe encapsulation apparatus, it is possible to improve impact resistanceof the encapsulation apparatus, as well as a life span and luminousefficiency characteristic of the encapsulation apparatus by suppressingthe penetration of hydrogen, oxygen and moisture.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges might be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

1. An encapsulation apparatus, comprising: a injection port havingtapered projecting edges formed at one end of the injection port, andinjecting a reinforcing material into a gap between a first substrateand a second substrate of a display panel, the first substrate and thesecond substrate being physically attached to each other using asealant; and a supporter being physically coupled to the injection portand supporting the injection port.
 2. The encapsulation apparatusaccording to claim 1, in which the injection port has a recess betweenthe projecting edges.
 3. The encapsulation apparatus according to claim1, in which the injection port comprises a header having taperedprojecting edges formed in the one end of the injection port; and a neckbeing extended integrally from the projecting edges and coupling theinjection port to the supporter.
 4. The encapsulation apparatusaccording to claim 3, in which the neck is coupled to the supporter by ascrew.
 5. The encapsulation apparatus according to claim 3, in which theheader has a length corresponding to that of a corresponding sidesurface of the display panel.
 6. The encapsulation apparatus accordingto claim 1, in which a length of the tapered projecting edges of theprojecting edge is determined according to a viscosity or an amount ofthe reinforcing material to be injected.
 7. The encapsulation apparatusaccording to claim 1, in which the projecting edges are coupled to theheader so that the projecting edges are disposed in a position fromapproximately ⅓ of a width of a corresponding side surface toapproximately ⅔ of the width of the corresponding side surface in alongitudinal direction along the corresponding side surface of thedisplay panel when the number of the projecting edges are two.
 8. Theencapsulation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a bodybeing coupled to the injection port and coupling the injection port tothe supporter in an attachable/detachable manner.
 9. A method ofmanufacturing an organic light emitting display device, the methodcomprising: adhering a second substrate of the organic light emittingdisplay, comprising a first substrate having an organic light emittingdiode installed therein and the second substrate for encapsulating apixel region of the first substrate, to the first substrate using asealant; immersing an injection port of an encapsulation apparatus in aliquid reinforcing material and taking the injection port out of theliquid reinforcing material, the injection port having taperedprojecting edges formed in one end of the injection port; contacting thereinforcing material with a gap of the display panel, the reinforcingmaterial being disposed on the projecting edges and the display panelbeing composed of the adhered substrates; and curing the reinforcingmaterial with which the gap of the display panel is filled.
 10. Themethod of manufacturing the organic light emitting display device ofclaim 9, in which the injection port has a recess between the projectingedges.
 11. The method of manufacturing the organic light emittingdisplay device of claim 9, wherein the reinforcing material includes atleast one selected from the group consisting of epoxy, acrylate,urethane acrylate, and acrylcyanoate.
 12. An encapsulation apparatus,comprising: at least one injection port each having a predeterminednumber of tapered projecting edges formed at one end of the injectionport, and the at least one injection port injecting a reinforcingmaterial into a gap between a first substrate and a second substrate ofa display panel comprising the first substrate and the second substratedisposed to be spaced apart from the first substrate, the firstsubstrate and the second substrate being physically attached to eachother by a sealant; and at least one supporter being physically coupledto the at least one injection port and supporting the at least oneinjection port.